Im sampling a 2006 bottle that has been cellared since purchase. On the eve of my 40th Birthday and for my 1600th review I figured I would dig something out of the archives to commemorate the occasions!

Pouring at cellar temp into a snifter the beer pours a rich mahogany with ruby highlights and frothy fleeting khaki colored head. The aroma is evident immediately after the cap is popped with deep malt notes of toffee and brown sugar, I get prunes, plums, raisins, lots of dark fruit. AS expected no hops and only the a little boozey red wine character. Strong english ale nose if I had to guess blindfolded on this one.
First sip reveals a smooth textured beer with very fine and fairly soft and spacious carbonation. Coating my palate with some sticky malt syrupy feature after each sip.
The flavor is sweet and malty with caramel and brown sugar, loads of dark fruit again, with raisins and plums. No hops on the flavor profile that I can pick up, which is also expected for a 10 year old bottle. I do get a little black peppery bite on the finish, which I attribute to the 9% ABV and not hops. While not warm in my mouth I do get just a little bit of warming in my belly after each swallow. A bit of sipping beer, but very enjoyable and certainly has held up well over the past decade, unless you were looking for hops, cause they are gone.
Im glad I opened this bottle and am enjoying the beer, even though the carbonation characters are soft, I am getting a lot of burps from the beer. Glad this one didnt die in my cellar.